Disclaimer: I don't own Elder Scrolls and Gladiator. They belong to their respective owners.
Hiya, guys. Here's another chapter of Maximus' adventure in Tamriel. I hope you like it.
Chapter 13: Revelation
The night had just passed when Maximus opened his eyes. He saw his beautiful wife still sleeping on the bed. Never before he felt so safe after the resurrection. His family was with him, guarded by professionals and his own friends. He got out of the bed and took a walk around. Opening the door, he headed to the dining room to grab some water. He grabbed the bottle with him and went to the fireplace. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the priest sat down, burying his face in the pile of books.
"Trouble sleeping?" He asked him. Martin was startled and found that he wasn't alone in the room.
"No, it's just... I like reading, and some of these books are quite rare out there. You know." He shrugged.
They looked at each other from their respective bench, not one of them could guess what the other had on mind. Then the moment was interrupted by the sound of the bell.
A Blade on top of the fortress suddenly shouted, "Enemy at the gates!" he bellowed so loud he woke up the entire residents. The Blade archers ran up and stood ready with their bow and drawn the arrow. Captain Steffan and Jauffre quickly moved into their position on the wall. Maximus and Martin soon came out from the main hall when they heard the commotion.
"What is happening?" asked Martin. Jauffre turned himself from the wall, "Your Highness, for your safety, you should not be here. I advise you to go back to the hall where you will be safe."
But Maximus kept walking towards the grandmaster, "What is going on?" Jauffre signaled him to the wall, "One of those bastards found us."
Maximus ran up to see exactly what happened out there. He looked down and saw a red-robbed person standing still in quite a distance from the fortress, but an arrow could easily took him down. It seemed the Mythic Dawn already found their hiding place. "We must kill him before he alerts the others." Jauffre told him. But then, the "spy" opened his hood and revealed his face to everyone.
"Halt! It's Juba, open the gates!" Maximus rushed to the gates to welcome his best friend. Jauffre look down just to make sure, then he ordered his men to stand down. The gates were raising slowly, then the mysterious guest was there to be seen by all. Maximus quickly embraced him and laughed, "I'm glad that you're safe."
"I can say the say about you." Juba chuckled.
"Come on, let's get inside. It's freezing out here." They were walking and climbing the stairs, and just when they reached the last step, someone pushed through the Blades.
"Where is he? Out of my way! Where is he? I'm gonna kill him!" There stood Hagen with his stupid smile and hairy chest exposed because it appeared that he just woke up 30 seconds ago.
"C'mere you idiot." He met his friend and gave him a bear hug that was so strong, it lifted him up from the ground.
Juba was struggling to set himself free from him and he started to be worry that if the hug didn't kill him, the halitosis would. "Hagen… Need…Air…." He screamed with all his might that brought the Nord to his senses.
"Hagen, that was very unbecoming of you. He looks like he just ran through hell, give him some time, will you?" Another voice said who appeared to be Cicero, standing on the porch.
"I'm sure it's very touching and all, but perhaps we can have a chat inside in the warmth of the fireplace." Jauffre addressed them all, then he turned back to other Blades, "All right, folks, show's over, nothing to be seen here, back to work, guys." And the crowd soon dispersed back to the last state before Juba's return.
After taking a bath and some breakfast, he joined the others at the main hall. Martin was sitting at the table with Cicero while the others were standing up. Jauffre thought it was the best if he started the conversation. "When Cicero came back, he told me that you went to the Mythic Dawn secret base, is that right?" Juba nodded in confirmation. "You should've told us to send backup, what if you failed?"
Maximus raised his hand to stop him there, "I beg a pardon, Jauffre, but from my past experience, I think Juba did the right thing, going there alone. If we sent troops there, the outcome could be worse. They might send an all-out attack on us, or the Empire if we did it."
"And what experience is that exactly, Maximus? I don't remember you telling us about your past."
"Is that so important right now?
"If you are going to be the leader of this whole thing, then yes, it is. Because you know what? I made my own investigation. And I found nothing about you prior joining the Fighters Guild, as well as your friends here. Now tell me, why is that?" He ended his rant and looking sharply into Maximus' eyes.
Maximus inhaled deeply, "We, uh, came from a distant land."
"What land? Hammerfell, High Rock, Valenwood? My research shows nothing about those lands." Jauffre retorted.
"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but…"
"As crazy as having four men fought so well against daedra after spending only 5 years at the Fighters Guild and 2 years at Arcane University?"
Maximus was feeling lost now. He didn't know how to explain it without punching the old man in the face. Luckily, Cicero was there to help.
"The truth is we are not from Tamriel at all, Grandmaster. Not even from Nirn or Mundus, actually."
Martin looked at him in disbelief, "What? What do you mean?"
Cicero cleared his throat, "We came from a different world entirely, it's called Earth. And on Earth, we're all dead. But someday, our god of the underworld decided to give us a second chance to save your world. Now that I remember it, it was Akatosh who came to our world and asking for help to our gods. So, here we are."
Baurus who had been silent the whole time decided to ask, "Are you some kind of daedra?"
"No, we aren't daedra, Baurus. If we were, would we help you so far? Our world is not a part of Aurbis." Cicero snapped quickly.
There was a long silent in that room for no one knew what to say about it. Then Martin opened his mouth, "That was…. unexpected. But it does explain a lot about you guys. By the way, is your family…?" Martin directed the last question to Maximus.
"Yes, they were brought here too." Maximus gave him a nod.
Jauffre then put his hand on the table to bring back the discussion to where they left it, "So, I heard about your run-in with Mythic Dawn in Imperial City and you, Juba, had just infiltrate their lair. What do you get?"
"When I got there, they forced me to hand them all my equipment, that's why I came here in their robe. Then I saw their leader, a charismatic Altmer called Mankar Camoran. He was giving them a speech about some sort of cleansing, that the Empire will fall to Mehrunes Dagon and all the bull crap." Juba explained his experience.
"Do you manage to get back the Amulet of Kings? Is it even there? Besides, that is the reason behind this mission, you remember?" Jauffre demanded.
Juba looked down and stammered a little bit before continuing, "Um, about that. Before I could do anything, Camoran opened a portal and brought the Amulet with him to wherever the portal led him."
Everyone's mood suddenly dropped when they learned the Amulet escaped their grasp once again, particularly Maximus who leaned on one of the pillar. After all, Emperor Uriel Septim gave the Amulet personally to him. He shared the same feeling of failure with Juba when the Amulet was stolen in the Priory.
Jauffre huffed in annoyance, "So you failed the mission. This only confirms my doubt, you should call for backup instead going solo."
Maximus gave Jauffre a glare as a warning to watch his words. He didn't like it when he insulted his friend as an incompetent fool. Perhaps he must have a long talk with him after this was over.
Juba then put a sack that he grabbed all that long on the table and pulled out its content. "Yes, I didn't retrieve the Amulet for Martin here. But I took something else from there. Seeing you as a scholar, I think you might be interested."
Martin saw the object that he pulled out, it was a book. But when he saw the cover, his adrenalin was skyrocketing and he snatched it from him by force.
"By the Nine, that such thing is dangerous even to handle!"
His sudden outrage successfully made everyone jumped from their bench, even the Blades from the next room rushed to the scene to see what was wrong. "Is everything alright, Grandmaster?" asked one of them.
"It's okay, soldier. We can handle it ourselves. Please, go back to your post." Jauffre raised his hand to calm them down. After the Blades were out of there, everyone put their attention to the book with ivory cover and strange symbol on it. Martin put the book down on the table among other books.
"I…I'm sorry. You were right to bring it here. It's safer here than in their hands." He sighed.
Cicero couldn't help himself but to look at the strange object. The book had the same symbol as the Commentary series, but the size was clearly bigger. "What book is that. Martin? Is it so dangerous?" He asked the ex-priest.
Martin closed his eyes for a couple seconds to prepare himself for the answer. He heard about the book once, but he never saw it himself until today. The thought of seeing it personally made him sick. "This is Mysterium Xarxes. A tome that was written directly by Mehrunes Dagon. So in a way, you can take it as daedric artifact. And you must never, never take a daedric artifact lightly. Even touching it can affect your mind, I dare not to think what it will do if you read it."
Cicero starred the tome with such curiosity and fear at the same time. The University strictly banned anything related to necromancy, but sometimes they taught a thing or two about daedra. They said that Daedric Princes are immensely powerful beings due to their absence in creating Mundus, thus they don't pour their power over it like Aedra.
"What could possibly be written inside?" asked him.
"Whatever that is, it must be evil. Or maybe, we can learn something to our advantage." Martin answered him while folding his arms together.
Maximus stroked his chin, absorbing the information. "By 'we', you mean it's you, don't you? Look around, it's clear to you are the only one with enough experience with magical things like this, even more than Cicero, no offense, friend." He addressed the last one to his old buddy.
Martin looked up to meet the ex-general's face. He was thinking about his words for a moment. Dealing with daedric artifacts was always dangerous as they were cunning and corrupting as the princes were. There was no telling what would happen if he tampered with the cursed book in front of him. He might become mad, wicked, gloomy or perverted beyond repair.
"Yeah, it seems we have no choice after all. It's not like a mage who is an expert in daedric knowledge will come here, is it Jauffre?"
Jauffre only frowned and shook his head, "No. It would be too dangerous, milord. Anyone of those cultist could knock our front door posing as a scholar from Arcane University." He turned to face Cicero who sat across Martin, "I'm fully aware of your cooperation with Tar-Meena, but we can't take the risk. She cannot help us this time, although she will be rewarded after this is over. Instead I need you to help Martin decipher whatever you find inside the book. I want every detail reported no matter how seemingly insignificant it may be."
No one was disagreeing with him this time, they just nodded in silence or starred into each other's eyes.
"Then we better start reading and investigating." Martin said which added by Cicero with a small smile.
Jauffre tried to give him support by patting his shoulder, then he talked to Maximus, "While they're at it, Captain Steffan and I need to speak to you, and you can bring your Nord friend as well." Maximus and Hagen joined him immediately, but Juba was all to take a rest after the fiasco at the cave.
They walked out of the hall and into his private room. After they sat down, Jauffre started to break the news. "Before we start, I want to tell you that Juba did a good job and I'm sorry for doubting him earlier. If the mission failed, the result would be worse. They could have found out about our location. I think I let my emotion clouded my judgment."
"I understand. As a professional myself, I can see from your point of view. I'm just glad we resolved the problem." Maximus gave him a quick smile.
Then Hagen voiced his concern, "So what's the problem that require us to speak in private?"
Jauffre raised his eyebrows, "Oh, right, about that… Captain Steffan, please explain the situation to these gentlemen."
Steffan cleared his throat before beginning, "Well, my men reported to me about two stranger who has been seen for the past two nights on the road to Cloud Ruler Temple. It's usually empty, saved from only the Blades and a selected Bruma soldiers."
"So what we need right now is for you to go there and see if they are a threat to us. Try to use persuasion if possible but if you get a resistance, feel free to use some force." Jauffre explained.
Maximus leaned back on the chair, "Let me get this straight, you want me, the so-called Hero of Kvatch, to meet a potential Mythic Dawn agent and sweet talk to them? I have a feeling it's gonna be a bit difficult, not impossible."
"I see your point, Maximus. But luckily, we have already thought about that. I don't think your friend here will have much problem." Jauffre said.
Hagen folded his arms together, "What do you propose?"
Now every pair of eyes was set on Jauffre, waiting him to say something important, "I want you to put on disguise as a simple traveler from Skyrim with little equipment, so it won't attract unnecessary attention. Maximus will meet you in Bruma through another way, if they're spies, it's likely they have a base in Bruma. It's a long distance from here to Cheydinhal. Find out everything you can find, then bring them to me. Is that clear?"
"Crystal. When do we leave?" Maximus exclaimed.
"This dusk, it's when we saw them last time. You can meet them near the runestone in the outskirt of Bruma. We better get prepared, especially you, Hagen." Steffan informed them.
After that, they came back to their respective room to tell Juba, but also Claudia and Octavius about this new development. It's still a few hours before dusk, but the preparation had gone underway. No one knew what lied ahead of them and only in the darkness of night would they be revealed.
There you go guys, to be honest i don't like doing this quest during my gameplay for some reason. How about you? What's your favourite quest? Tell me in the review section.
Until next time,
haljordan123